This Hong Kong film was originally released in 1993 as JIE TOU BA WANG, which translates to DRUG TIGER. Tai Seng has decided to play the name game and rename this action/comedy as EAT MY DUST. EAT MY DUST is a recent entry in Tai Seng’s budget DVD line. So the DVD is full frame, and features only a couple extras, but you really can’t complain because of the low price of $19.99 (Editor's Note: This was written back when Tai Seng charged $40+ for HK imports). The film itself won’t win any acting awards, but it is an enjoyable combination of humor, martial arts, and explosive action. If you can get by the fact that the DVD is English dubbed and full frame, you may enjoy the fun of this disjointed revenge tale. If only Tai Seng could have presented the film widescreen, this would have been a great bargain.

The film features several Hong Kong notables, including Cynthia Lam as a police undercover specialist Wendy Ho (this is funny because she goes undercover as a prostitute). Lam is sort of a poor man’s Michele Yeoh; she is cute as a button, and possesses some competent martial arts skills. But she lacks the acting ability and presence of the talented Ms. Yeoh. The film also stars Michael Tsang as Hank, a repressed orphan with a do-or-die attitude. Mark Ng plays Rob, Hank’s best friend since their days at the orphanage together. Johnny Chiu is lead bad guy Bill Yang. Eric Tsang, Wu Ma, and Shing Fui-On get top billing in the film, but they are only in it for about 5 minutes!

Two brothers are discussing putting their Triad days behind them, when the mother comes into the room to grab the two and bring them out into the living room of their house where a young boy is about to celebrate his birthday. The brothers celebrate with the young boy (named Hank) as the mother brings out a birthday cake. As the boy begins to blow out the candles, bullets begin flying though the windows. A hit squad, led by a man named Bill Yang, begins firing away at the unsuspecting family. The brothers (being peripherally involved with the Triads carry guns of course) withdraw their weapons and fire back at the hit squad. Bill Yang shoots the mother, and later the father, as the uncle and the boy escape the bullet-ridden home. The uncle stashes the boy in a trash bin, and runs away to lure the hit squad away from the hiding kid. Bill Yang then fire-bombs the house, swiftly incinerating any evidence that would tie the parents deaths to him.

20 years later, Bill Yang was never convicted of the deaths, and he is now the head of his own syndicate. The little boy Hank has now grown up and sells chestnuts in the streets of Hong Kong along with his childhood buddy Rob. The two live with Rob’s fiance Kitty Tso and her uncle, affectionately called Uncle Tso. Kitty’s uncle does not approve of her relationship with Rob; Uncle Tso thinks Rob is a bum because Rob or Hank never have rent money, and Kitty has to fork over the dollars so Uncle Tso won’t throw them out.

Bill Yang commands a number of hitmen and goes about violently dispatching his enemies. This behavior catches the eye of the police department, especially Wendy Ho, an undercover inspector with nothing going on in her life besides being a good cop. While the film explores Wendy Ho’s investigation into Bill Yang’s criminal activities, the film also chronicles Hank and Robs comedic exploits. Eventually, Hank and Wendy’s paths cross and they begin dating.

What Hank doesn’t know is that his uncle (whom he believes is dead) is still alive and confined to a wheelchair. The uncle tries to assassinate Bill Yang in front of his own building, but fails and is shot for his trouble. Hank witnesses this shooting and goes off the deep end. Hank begins quietly plotting his revenge by bringing down Bill Yang’s empire. This does not bode well to his new girlfriend Wendy, who is investigating Yang. She warns Hank that if he jeopardizes the investigation in any way, she will have him arrested. Some girl friend, huh?

Both Hank and Rob know kung-fu equally well. Rob confronts his good friend, and threatens to fight him if Hank does not let Rob in on his revenge plans. The two team up and they threaten a police informant who reveals the location of one of Bill Yang’s drug deals. Then they visit a munitions dealer and arm themselves to the teeth. As the deal goes down in an abandoned construction site, Hank and Rob ruin the deal using a large number of explosives and a motorcycle. Hank and Rob shoot most of the goons, grab the dirty money, and get away. This angers Bill Yang who tells his men to capture Rob. That night as Rob is out with his girlfriend Kitty, Bill Yang’s enforcers sneak into a nightclub and threaten Kitty unless Rob comes peacefully, which he does. Policewoman Wendy Ho informs hank of the news, and Hank grabs his machine guns and bazooka and heads over to Bill Yang’s headquarters to rescue his friend Rob. Or is it all a setup?

The movie is somewhat schizophrenic. The first few minutes are depressing, when we see Hank’s parents get killed. Then the narrative changes to the present; it is twenty years later and Hank is grown up and pretty much making his living from the streets. But in all the scenes with Rob and Uncle Tso, the comedic aspects are played up, and there are some genuinely funny bits. Some of the humor is forced, but most of it works. The scenes of orphans Hank and Rob hanging in the streets is like the comedic Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao scenes from WHEELS ON MEALS. Then in the last half-hour, the comedy is jettisoned and the film switches gears to a dead-serious revenge drama, with the large number of bad guys swiftly put to a brutal end.

Another fault of the script is the characterizations. Though the movie examines Hank and Rob’s relationship since their days at the orphanage, the character development stops there. Because of their antics, we know these guys are funny. Then in the last act they are brandishing weapons and bulls-eyeing targets that would make John Rambo jealous. There is no explanation, mention, or even clue as to where these guys got their weapons and martial arts skills. Were they in the army? Were they hitmen? At least in Woo’s far-out action films, you knew the character’s backgrounds, which made the action that much more believable.

The end sequence involving Hank and Wendy’s rescue attempt on Bill Yang’s fortified stronghold is something right out of HARD-BOILED. There are several scenes of the heroes (and bad guys) executing John Woo-inspired maneuvers, including the patented flying-through-the-air-while-firing-guns-with-both-hands, and the shooting-bad-guys-while-rolling-across-the-floor-on-a-skateboard. There are tons of explosions sending bad guys hurtling through the air. All these scenes of colorful mayhem are masterfully portrayed by the stunt crew, though its obviously not as poetic as when Woo does it.

SIGHT

When the movie starts, the brief credits sequence is letterboxed at 1.85.1. After that the movie goes to full frame. Considering that EAT MY DUST is only seven years old, the transfer is not that good. I suspect that letterboxing it would have resolved most of the problems evident here. However, the transfer is far from bad, it’s just not what it should be. There are no nics, scars, or imperfections in the film elements. Alas, the film has a soft look. Colors are affected by this softness and appear muted. Detail in the cinematography is non-existent. Grain rears it ugly head on more than one occasion. Blacks and shadow detail do not seem to be properly balanced. Generally, the video quality is much better than VHS, but not what it should be on DVD. To be fair, the transfer is no where near as bad as the kung-fu films being put out by Xenon (both companies are aiming for the same audience and price range). The action scenes do not suffer from the problems here, but they do appear slightly truncated in the full frame transfer. The many explosions and the numerous stunt scenes are skillfully executed and colorfully depicted (and are the stars of the show). The transfer is similar to the audio, it gets the job done, but that is about it.

SOUND

The audio is Dolby Digital Mono 1.0. The sound is rather flat and has no bass, but the soundtrack has no hiss, dropouts, or distortion. Most of the movie is dialog driven and this mix serves that well. But the last act consists of a lot of gunfire and explosions, which cries out for bass effects and some sound field activity. Composer Bob Yuen comes up with some strong themes, but they are rendered flat by this mono mix. The dubbing is competent, and fairly well synchronized. One problem is that it sounds like the dubbing is done by the same two or three people, who try to disguise their voices for the many characters they portray. An extravagant soundtrack this is not, but it gets the job done.

FEATURES

This is a no-frills DVD per Tai Seng’s marketing strategy. Included is the original theatrical trailer. To rub salt in the wound, the trailer is letterboxed (1.85.1) and looks great, with lots of clarity and detail. If only the feature could have matched the trailer! The trailer is in mono, and runs 3:38. There is also a trailer-medley (as I like to call it), consisting of scenes of their Shaolin Classic Series. Besides SHAOLIN AVENGERS, scenes are lifted from Tai Seng’s other films in the series, DECENDANT OF WING CHUN and LEGEND OF THE DRUNKEN TIGER. This trailer medley is accompanied by an appropriate rock soundtrack.

CONCLUSION

Granted, this budget DVD is not what it could have been. It has its problems such as the full frame transfer, the mono sound, and the dubbing. Purists will probably pass on purchasing this one, but the film has some fun to offer including some cheesy comedy and some John Woo-style explosiveness. The actors make the best out of the material given them. Cynthia Lam is in great shape and is always fun to watch. I would feel much more confident recommending this if it had been widescreen, and looked as good as the trailer did. Tai Seng’s budget line is still new; hopefully they will improve and offer a nice, widescreen version with optional English subs to satisfy the purists and the low-budget buyer.

EVIL DEAD TRAP is available from DVDEmpire.com

                                                 Rating (out of 5):